Natural Resources Committee on May 6th, 2024

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

There are over 200 agreements signed, including nine agreements with provinces and territories, and 553 million trees will be planted through those agreements.

I wanted to say thank you for your hard work on this. My community of Vaudreuil—Soulanges benefited from 10,000 of those trees. I appreciate the effort made to benefit smaller communities and to allow them to be a part of this very important work.

With that, I'll turn the floor over to Mr. Jowhari.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, MP Schiefke. It's good to be at this committee as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Deputy Minister.

Deputy Minister, we'll be embarking on a study in this committee very shortly that will be looking at the state of electricity need in Canada, from generation to transmission to distribution and consumption, and many other factors.

One of the sources of green electricity that we'll be looking at is nuclear energy. Canada's been in the forefront of that industry for a very long time through the CANDUs.

I had the opportunity to visit Darlington last year in the summer, and they were giving us an update on the three SMR modules, the reactors, that they're about to implement.

Can you give us an update on where we are on the SMR side, as well as the great work that I believe Canadian talent is doing across the world through the CANDU?

[Michael Vandergrift]

Thank you for that important question. We do believe that small modular reactors are an important part of meeting Canada's future energy needs.

In fact, we are leading the world in many respects as the project at Darlington moves forward on an SMR. Funding has been provided to help that project through the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The investment tax credits will also assist nuclear projects.

It goes beyond the Darlington project. There are important conversations taking place with other provinces about their interest in advancing SMRs. There's Saskatchewan, where the Government of Canada has provided funding for pre-development work, and New Brunswick, where we've also provided some pre-development funding on an SMR project. Alberta is also very interested in advancing SMRs now, and we're seeing partnerships between those provinces on how to advance SMRs in the country as well.

We do see potential for SMRs to start to roll out across the country and become an important part of the energy mix.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you.

I also had an opportunity to talk to the Minister for Trade and Industry from Singapore, and one specific question he asked was where we were with the SMR in Darlington.

It's not only Canada and the provinces that are looking; there are also a lot of countries internationally that are eagerly and closely watching what we are doing.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you.

We'll now go to Monsieur Simard for six minutes.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The federal greener homes initiative has failed many times in Quebec. Program administration was outsourced to a Vancouver firm, Intellifi.

Was there a call for tenders for this project?

[Michael Vandergrift]

I thank the member for his question.

I'd like to ask Mr. Leyburne to answer this question.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Just to follow up a little, and so as not to—

[Michael Vandergrift]

I apologize. There was a call for tenders.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

So there was a call for tenders.

I had a close look at this, and from spring 2021 to the end of 2023, 48,000 files were sent from Quebec. Only 23% of those who submitted one of those 48,000 files received a response. There were many complaints because people, francophones, received responses in English only, which is totally unacceptable. In addition, the wait times were very long for people from Quebec.

Have you taken action to address this situation?

[Michael Vandergrift]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We've worked closely with our partners in Quebec to resolve complaints and improve the delivery of this program. I think a lot of improvements were made toward the end of the program.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I just want to clarify: The problem was not the RénoClimat program, which forwarded the requests to you, but rather the fact that people were not getting a response from Intellifi. People weren't getting responses in a timely manner, and no responses were provided in French.

Trees can't be planted willy-nilly anywhere. Some kind of expertise is needed to plant two billion trees.

Did you consult with experts to come up with a strategy? If so, could you share the list of experts consulted with the committee?

[Michael Vandergrift]

Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his relevant question.

Yes, we can submit a list of the experts.

We consulted experts to develop the program, as well as review responses to requests for proposals. We have specialists responsible for evaluating proposals.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Under this program, have you ever considered planting trees for the purpose of harvesting them?

[Michael Vandergrift]

I'm sorry, but I didn't quite hear the last sentence.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

From what I understand, the logging companies wanted no part in the two billion trees program because the trees that were planted could not be harvested.

Have you looked at having the program serve the forest industry?

[Michael Vandergrift]

We are currently discussing the program with Quebec, and we'll soon come to an agreement. I think that will resolve that issue as well.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Okay.

I see that $8.5 million is earmarked for new forest fire programs. In my opinion, $8.5 million is very little.

Have you thought about supporting small logging companies, who are the first to feel the effects of wildfires? I'm asking because they can't get into the forest and they have very high operating costs. In addition, they play a crucial role in the forest industry. These companies have been weakened for a number of years.

Are you considering bringing in a liquidity program for these people, among other things?

[Michael Vandergrift]

Mr. Chair, I'd like to ask Glenn Hargrove to answer that question.

[Glenn Hargrove]

Thank you for your question.

First of all, to the first part of your question, the government has invested around $800 million in recent years in wildfire supports. We've also renewed our forest sector programming with $368.4 million over three years. That's intended to support the long-term sustainability of the forest sector across Canada with things like pre-commercial research, adopting transformative technologies and products, green construction with wood efforts, forest leadership internationally, and encouraging and supporting indigenous participation in the forest sector.

There's quite a range of supports for the forest sector, in addition to the programming that's supporting wildfire resilience and response.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I have a quick question.

Earlier, you told my colleague that the government intended to sell the pipeline. We were also told that the profits generated by the Trans Mountain pipeline would be reinvested in clean energy, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer said there were no profits to consider, in his opinion.

Are there really any plans to invest non-existent profits in clean energy?

[Michael Vandergrift]

That's what we're aiming for, but the Department of Finance is really managing that. We could provide you with more information.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you.

We'll now go to Mr. Angus for six minutes.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There have been massive investments or promised investments in the EV sector from GM, Northvolt, Ford and Volkswagen, as well as from Stellantis, at about $11 billion, and Honda, at $15 billion. We're going head to head with our competitors across the border, who are determined that the EV industry is going to stay in the States. That's all dependent on access to critical minerals.

We've heard a lot of talk around this table about how long it takes to get a mine past the regulatory process. It's about 10 years. Right now in Treaty No. 9, an area I represent, which is pretty much the metals basket of North America, there's a $95-billion lawsuit against the federal government and the province over a failure to consult.

Does the government have a plan for where they're going to get critical minerals so that we can actually get these plants up and operational?